Ponting: England's inconsitency will be playing on their minds

Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes England's indifferent form since winning last year's Ashes may be playing on their minds as they prepare for the rematch.

Since their memorable 2-1 victory over Australia to reclaim the urn after an 18-year wait, England have performed patchily.

The Test series in Pakistan which followed the Ashes finished 2-0 in the home side's favour - followed by drawn series in India and against Sri Lanka in England and then a 3-0 victory over Pakistan at the end of the summer.

Ponting's team have been in commanding form in both Test and one-day internationals, most recently winning the ICC Champions Trophy.

Asked whether he thinks England may be concerned about their inconsistency, Ponting said: "I'm sure they'll be thinking about it a little bit.

"They've had their share of setbacks along the way as well with injury and a few guys just returning from injury at the start of the [Australian] summer."

Australia have beaten West Indies, South Africa (twice) and Bangladesh in Test series since the Ashes, and Ponting feels that could be a significant factor this winter.

"Our last 12 months of Test cricket have been pretty much first-class," he said. "We've managed to play at a very high standard against different opposition in different countries around the world."

"We had to address a few things when we came back from the Ashes - there's no doubt about that - and to the players' and the coaching staff's credit, I think we've done that and raised our standards back up again from where they were."

Australia's Champions Trophy campaign over the past month confirmed them in outstanding form.

"Right at the moment, I think all of our guys are in pretty good shape," said Ponting.

"I don't think I've ever seen our guys train harder on their skills or physically, while we were away last month and even before that with Malaysia and our pre-season.

"So physically, and probably skills-wise, we're in really good order."

While England warm up for the opening Test in Brisbane with a one-day game against a Prime Minister's XI and two three-day games against New South Wales and South Australia, the Australian team will be playing for their states.

Most of their Ashes hopefuls have been ensconced in one-day cricket for the last couple of months, but Ponting is confident that a run-out with their state will be enough for them to adapt to the longer form.

"There's five or six guys that have been back playing domestic cricket in Australia, so they've got a bit more cricket under their belts," said the captain.

"But I think the way we've trained and worked in India should be good preparation for us.

"We've done well over the last month so it's up to all of us now just to go back [to our state] and make the most of whatever games we have."